TORONTO — With temperatures dipping into the –20C range, many of Toronto’s poor and homeless began 2008 with a desperate search for shelter.

And as it has for the last 21 years, the city’s Out Of The Cold program – which provides shelter, food and companionship – offered sanctuary to some of the community’s impoverished.

First begun in 1987 by some students at St. Michael’s School who befriended a homeless man and helped him until his death, the idea quickly caught on with churches and synagogues around town as a permanent social action activity.

The proactive, multifaith program, which runs from November to April, is co-ordinated out of Dixon Hall – a former downtown soup kitchen and now a charitable service agency – and continues to be a staple tikkun olam component for some Toronto-area shuls.

This season, along with numerous churches and schools, synagogues representing a broad spectrum of the Jewish faith will participate, including Holy Blossom Temple, Beth Sholom, Beth Emeth Bais Yehuda, First Narayever, Darchei Noam, Beit Rayim and Temple Har Zion. Many began housing, feeding and helping the needy through the program in late 2007.

According to the most recent statistics – the City of Toronto’s 2003 Housing and Homelessness Report Card – close to 32,000 Torontonians made use of a shelter in 2002. Among those seeking refuge that year were more than 4,700 children.

This is why participating in programs like Out Of The Cold is a natural fit for shuls and their congregations: because in this instance, chesed is something that can literally warm those in need.

Participating congregations open their doors or offer aid one day of the week on a rotating basis, ensuring that at least one place of refuge is available every wintry night.

For example, Holy Blossom, 1950 Bathurst St., serves meals and entertains more than 100 guests and sleeps about 40 at its Out Of The Cold program every Thursday night via the efforts of more than 500 volunteers from the congregation and the community at large, according to its website.

The shul has participated in the program since 1996.

Program co-chairs Brooke Saks and Gary Pile help co-ordinate the effort at Holy Blossom.

“I love that we can put a smile on [guests’] faces. We have a really warm environment,” Saks said. “We serve meals restaurant-style, so that our guests stay seated. I tell every volunteer that it’s a ‘guaranteed feel good’ because [they] are making a difference in people’s lives.”

At Beth Emeth Bais Yehuda, 100 Elder St., the shul opened its doors for this year’s program on Monday, Jan. 14.

Beth Emeth serves dinners for up to 90 guests and has up to 30 people sleep over each Monday evening.

“I’m completely energized when I come to the program,” said Shelley Cobrin, co-chair of the program at Beth Emeth for the past six years. “It’s a safe environment, and you feel good about it [because] our guests are so appreciative. But the sad part is that it’s just a drop in the bucket. These people need so much more.”

Beth Sholom, 1445 Eglinton Ave. W., now in its ninth year with the Out Of The Cold program, provides accommodations for between 90 and 100 guests every Tuesday night until March 25.

Beth Sholom Rabbi Aaron Flanzraich says that this year, his shul has partnered with the Beth Tzedec, 1700 Bathurst St. in order to accommodate more guests.

“The program is a true and pure form of care and chesed. It provides the opportunity not only for some to get a meal and a bed in the winter, but for us to care for people in need,” Rabbi Flanzraich told The CJN. “We’ve been told that spots at our place are ‘coveted’… And we know [guests] understand that this program is an unequivocal expression of our faith.”

For its part, Darchei Noam supplies around 60 volunteers to work in their Thursday night interfaith program, which runs out of St. Matthew’s United Church, 729 St. Clair Ave. W.

Lynda Champagne, Darchei Noam’s Out Of The Cold co-ordinator, said the shul has been involved in the program for the last 12 years.

“Our congregation really got behind the program. We offer friendship and companionship,” she said. “I started out wanting to save… and fix homeless people’s lives.  But I’ve since learned that we’re offering a band-aid solution. There are still many people who need to be housed who have mental problems or drug addictions.”

Most synagogues rely on private donations and funds for their continued participation in Out Of The Cold, and are always on the lookout for benefactors to continue providing this service in their communities.

For more information, visit www.ootc.ca.